Laptop encryption notes...
More laptop encryption news:
"A U.S. government computer loaded with approximately 133,000 drivers' and pilots' records — including Social Security numbers — was stolen last month, the Department of Transportation said Wednesday."
I've also been asked about the recent story of the VA losing(*) 38,000 records. This is actually a very different story, for the following three reasons:
- The theft was of a desktop, not a laptop.
- The theft was from a subcontractor, not a conslutant(**).
- The data stolen was already in the public domain, having been previously stolen as part of a larger theft a few months before.
See, totally different.
In related news, of course, with today being August 9th, 2006, all government laptops have been encrypted for two days now, and so we won't see any more of these stories going forward, right? <FX: Crickets/>
(*) By "losing", of course, I don't mean that they don't still have the data, they've merely widened its distribution to include unknown and untrusted third parties. Oh, and someone apparently walked away from their offices with a desktop!
(**) Conslutant derives from three root words - "con" meaning to fool you, "sult" meaning someone who'll tell you you're clever and handsome for as long as you have money, and "ant", meaning a small insect.